Open Thread!

I haven’t had a chance to study the ST3 draft system plan in any depth. But I like what I’ve seen so far. A Graham Street Station and Light Rail to Ballard are probably highlights for me. I imagine suburbanites have their favorites.

In other news, the U.S. has killed ISIS’s #2 commander. Remember that other commander-in-chief who was busy reading “My Pet Goat” when we were hit with Pearl Harbor 2.0 and never did catch the guy behind it? And started two wars he couldn’t finish? If you want to kill terrorists, then hire a Democrat to get the job done. Republicans are incapable of wiping their own butts.

The Seattle Times reports this morning the “man in tree” is from Oregon, has suffered from mental illness since childhood, and has a criminal record that includes assaulting police and a felony weapons conviction, plus a long history of probation violations.

I’m disappointed that the Ballard–Downtown line won’t be completed until 2038. We have pressing need for fantastic public transit now; imagine how much worse things could get in 22 years. I know we have to throw a bone to the Eastside if there’s to be any chance of ST3 passing, but I think it’s fair to argue that the service a regional transit system offers should over-represent the population center.

It also sucks that ST3 is doing nothing to address East-West travel within Seattle. What a pain in the ass it is to get from the sound to Lake Washington, no matter which numbered Street you take.

This is hallmark delusional cult behavior. Their prophecy has failed. Their cult leaders have been unmasked. And their reaction is to simply revise every part of their cult belief system to conform to the facts of the collapse while re-branding the resulting chaos as exciting “re-birth” filled with unlimited possibility.

History show us that what happens next usually involves a big kettle filled with special kool-aid. I’ll buy a round for the fuckwad and boob!

@11 It’s been interesting to watch David Brooks’ metamorphosis over the last 20 years from the New York Times’ token apologist for Republican orthodoxy to his current far more moderate stance. Occasionally he lapses into a sort of nostalgia, and this piece is clearly one of those occasions. He’s conveniently forgetting that the “Reagan revolution” in fact proved beyond reasonable doubt that a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats. Just the biggest yachts.

@4, @10 In view of the stated plans to eventually add a Link branch to Ballard, and the intention to increase Sounder service in the shorter term, I’m disappointed to see no mention of even the possibility of adding a stop for the Sounder where it passes the end of Market Street on the north side of the Ship Canal.

Hopefully the city can come up with some sort of solution that will accelerate development within its borders before November. If that’s the case, then I will be on board with ST3. Or maybe lots of people will complain to Sound Transit and they’ll change the draft proposal (I plan to once I’ve had time to do more research).

If not though, I’m considering making my first ‘no’ vote for transit expansion.

@15, some voters will never stop voting for the Republican cult. And since David Brooks so ably demonstrates, the cult will never really reform, the best option for these voters will be to follow their Jim Jones into the jungle, never to return.

But if Puddy were smart he would start thinking about voting for Clinton or Bernie. For the life of me I’m not sure what he gets and doesn’t get, but contrary to what I just said, I think he knows it, just has too much pride or stupidity.

@19 But if my reasoning is correct, a large number of Sanders supporters did not vote in the last election and won’t vote in the one following the presidential election. That means that any Sanders presidency would be hobbled, like they hobbled President Obama, by the people on the left who don’t vote every time. Then it’s “waa, waa, waa, we’re being ripped off!”

Just finished watching Bill Maher on HBO. I can always count on having a good laugh, maybe at the expense of Republicans typically, and I usually agree with a lot of what he says, if nothing else it is interesting dialogue with thinking minds, but I have to say I don’t always agree with him. I think there are three things tonight that I think he was wrong on.

One would be that he should read the link provided @23.

Second he criticized Emory student at their response to what happen there.

And third he ended the show that he would choose Crud over Drumpf.

On the second item I mention, I think it matters in what context were people writing in chalk “Trump” on the sidewalks. If it was in innocent support of Drumpf then ok he had a point point. But I think it matters in what “Trump” is associated, as in hate and bigotry, which is kind of what @23 is saying, at a stretch. And I’d have to ask, what would conservatives say if someone went around spray painting or in chalk putting rainbows on church grounds in front of they entry. Would it mater if it was even a gay person or not? And I’m sure it would cause an uprising amongst conservative, even if the rainbow doesn’t even translate (for lack of a better word) into a message of hate like “Trump” does.

And instead of saying that Crud is better than Trump, he should have just put up two other faces, Hilary’s and Bernies. And as much as I agree that Drumpf is a nut out loud, Crud is the same nut in a closet, which is even worse.

Bill Maher upset that liberals can’t say Islamic Radiucals but no mention on his show about religious conservative radicals of North Carolina and Georgia. Ok, maybe leave the religious part out, but these radicals are not a problem, only the Muslim ones.

David Brooks is so disgusted with his Republican Party, he’s decided to become an ersatz philosopher/psychologist/sociologist. He’s still a good writer, but his trying to distract us from the idiocies of his failed party isn’t working.

@29 Human institutions based on fallacies fail and fail catastrophically. They are inherently disordered. Like the Catholic church fails over and over throughout history. But the ability of humans to delude themselves is quite remarkable.

@30, at least “faith” in religion cannot, by definition, be falsified.

“Reaganism” (to quote Brooks, although perhaps more accurately “Kempism”) has been repeatedly and consistently falsified.Kansas, etc. At the state level, the delusion will persist for some time yet, although localized. But given human nature, it’s safe to predict that citizens in states like Kansas will eventually grow tired of jealously viewing growth, prosperity, and rising standard of living from behind the “conservative” glass.

@2 To be even more effective and maybe even get some intelligence (dead men tell no tales) capture the SOB turn him over to the Hague or try him and he can have a lifetime apartment in a supermax. More difficult, more expensive, comes with risk, but it highlights our Constitution and beliefs.

Now the Russians would not just shoot him, they would line his wife, sons, friends and everyone in his home neighborhood up and execute most of them.

@4 So you would support a much more robust system in a quicker time frame? Maybe a tunnel under the lake? (Not sure that is practical, but where are the see through tubes on the lake floor. This is the kind of thing that makes America Great. (And yes a little silly as we tend to actually be practical in our engineering endeavors, but engineers occassionally need a challenge.

@12 No what he is leaving out is the fact other Republicans ridiculed the idea of the rising tide. Especially when coupled with the concept of the trickle down. I suppose one could argue that when the big yachts rose up and their mighty Captains took a piss off their boats that was the trickle down. It still fells like hot piss down your back from a SOB rich bastard. And yes Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman had it right and it’s still the same Republicans only they have been lying a lot lot longer than 30 years. Just we managed to forget that a rising tide lifts all boats when there is a umpire that insists on some rules and there is no reliance on trickle down.

@21 If you are referring to young voters this has been true for decades. Maybe it’s because of our watered down requirements for students to have some understanding of government. The United States is not a parliamentary system so there is a big disconnect between folks understanding the President and executive branch is more about doing the day to day business of the nation rather than determining the direction of policy. The power of the President is frankly in many respects exaggerated, and certain aspects of the Presidents power isn’t easily used by all occupants of the office. The President has a certain amount of political capital at any particular time, usually has the most at the beginning of a term. Since he can’t run for a third term it’s always diminishing, yet to have more political capital he has to spend some. Some of that is to keep more of his party in Congress. Us Americans can be very fickle in our expectations of the President, and after 2 years we can show our dissatisfaction though to some degree it’s because many don’t understand the connection. So there is a disconnect, and it’s worsened by the fact Americans love to jump on a bandwagon and then jump off when the band has gone home and the wagon doesn’t come back out for 4 years or the band a the two year mark is small and really sucks. So time to go to Bloom County and take a Dandelion break. As it’s as Pogo said: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

@24 Well I think they could use chalk to put a pink triangle at those places. That is speech. When spray paitned it’s still speech, but then there is the issue that the speaker has damaged property. For the damage to property the speaker should at least expect to pay or restore the property to its original condition. That is if you can catch the tagger. Rainbows are probably preferable to pink triangles though.

@25 Now that is a brave artist. I support his rainbow flag art. I would also support him if he’d painted a picture of Hitler, though would probably have been met with applause. Perhaps he will do a rainbow picture of Hitler and confuse everyone. For a community that is probably ok with two men walking down the street holding hands, or find it’s ok for men to dance with men but none of that men dancing with women their vehemence about homosexuality is amazing. Now what happens in the harem stays in the harem and of course unless you are the husband only eunuchs are allowed. Can a eunuch be gay?

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